Bully and His Pals: Squirrel Girl and Tippy-Toe endorse the great taste and refreshment of Polar Seltzer™!

Meanwhile, at Bully's backyward barebcue...

Today in Comics History, March 23: Happy birthday, Erica Henderson!

Born on this day: Eisner Award-winning comic book artist and animator Erica Henderson: co-creator of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series and Assassin Nation, the "Like Red Stitches in Blood" series in Image! 30th Anniversary Anthology, work for Archie Comics and on Harley Quinn, not to mention dozens of goergeosu covers for all the major comic book publishers!


from letter column header in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (December 2015 series) #6 (Marvel, May 2016), pencils and inks by Erica Henderson
Happy birthday, Erica!


variant cover of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #16; pencils by Erica Henderson, inks by Chip Zdarsky
From L-R behind the table: Joe Quinones; Chip Zdarsky; Erica Henderson; Ryan North

Today in Comics History, December 24, 1968, Christmas Eve: Best trash talk in any universe

from "Moon Squirrel and Tippysaur" in Infinity Wars: Infinity Warps #1 (Marvel, January 2019), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Natacha Bustos, colors by Tamra Bonvillain, letters by Cory Petit

Today in Comics History, December 21: Happy birthday, Chip Zdarsky!

BoTD: comics artist, writer, and designer Chip Zdarsky (Howard the Duck, Daredevil, Peter Parker, Batman, Jughead, Sex Criminals and much more)!





variant "How to Draw" covers for Marvel Comics cover-dated December 2017, by Chip Zdarsky

Today in Comics History, August 11: Happy birthday, Joe Quiñones!

A happy birthday today to comics artist Joe Quiñones (Firefly, Batman '89, Dial H for Hero, America, Howard the Duck, Archie Meets Batman '66 and more)! How cool is Joe? He knows Leah Thompson! What can be even cooler than that?


from Howard the Duck (2016 series) #9 (Marvel, September 2016)
What is cooler than that: he knows Squirrel Girl! (From L-R in the Marvel Comics booth: Joe, Chip Zdarsky, Erica Henderson, Ryan North.)


variant cover of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (December 2015 series) #9 (Marvel, May 2016), pencils by Erica Henderson, inks by Chip Zdarsky
Happy birthday, Joe!

Face It Tiger February, Day 25: Squirrels All the Bad Guys Want

from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2015b series) #8 (Marvel, July 2016), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Erica Henderson, colors by Rico Renzi, letters by Travis Lanham
I don't build my world 'round no single man
But I'm gettin' by doin' what I can
I am free to be what I want to be
An' all what I want to be is a modern squirrel

365 Days of Power and Responsibility, Day 73: To her, life is a great big acorn / Where there's a city crime-torn / You'll find the Squirrel Girl!

Page from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (March 2015 first series) #2 (April 2015), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Erica Henderson, colors by Rico Renzi, letters by Clayton Cowles
What's that? You say can't spot a Power and Responsibility reference? Ah, but remember that in a Squirrel Girl comic, you must always check the footnotes!


I think what I'm saying here is, each Squirrel Girl comic should come with its own magnifying glass.

365 Days of Defiance, Day 365: A Better World

"Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change, but pretty soon...everything's different." — Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes

And there we are.

I've run late all year on this feature, and I've finished it up late — whatever the date at the top of this post says, t'ain't December 31, it's several days through March 2018. Y'all have been remarkable patient with me backdating several posts at a time instead of putting them up every day like clockwork, like a good blog should. But it's been a hard year. It's been a hard year for me, and I know it's been a hard year for you. There are sometimes when I put down my little fuzzy head and cry. You might too. And that's okay, because we both get up eventually and get back to life. We get back to speaking, to posting, to protesting, to donating, to helping, to voting, to defying each in our own ways.


Panels from Final Crisis #7 (March 2009), script by Grant Morrison, pencils by Doug Mahnke, inks by a whole lotta guys, colors by not so many guys, but still a lot of 'em, letters by Travis Lanham
"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation." — Robert F. Kennedy

We'll never punch the Red Skull. We'll never sass off to Galactus. We'll never kick Darkseid in his little blue skirt and push him into a Boom Tube. But we can be inspired by the guys who did that. By Spider-Man, by Captain America, by Superman, by Green Lantern, by Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl and Black Panther and Shuri. Our heroes don't do the work for us, but they show the way. And remind us: the work is never done.

Panels from Fear Itself #7 (December 2011); script by Matt Fraction; pencils by Stuart Immonen; inks by Wade Von Grawbadger and Dexter Vines; colors by Laura Martin, Justin Ponsor, and Matt Milla; letters by Chris Eliopoulos
(Click picture to length of 2017-size)
"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world." — Robin Williams

We don't know what the future will hold (and that future hasn't been written yet, no how, no way), but we do know this: we know that the future will judge us harshly is we're on the wrong side of history. You know what the wrong and the right siide is here. Surely you want your kids and their kids, and those in centuries to come all the way up through the Legion of Super-Heroes and beyond, to look back and say of us "nevertheless, they persisted?"


Panels from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2015 series) #4 (March 2016), script by Ryan North, oencils and inks by Erica Henderson, color by Rico Renzi, letters by Clayton Cowle
"Be the change you want to see in the world." — Mohandas Gandhi

Let this all radicalize you rather than lead you to despair. Let's not, like the dog in the burning house, sit back and sip coffee. This is not fine. This needs action. Need a suggestion on what you need to know and how to get started? StayWoke is an excellent reference to bookmark and return to, and their Resistance Manual is a continuingly updated prime source for activism, resistance, and protest. As StayWoke says: There are more of us who support equity and justice than who oppose it.

There is hope. There is a chance. We need to remember the "final words" of the man who started this all for us in his four-color defiance, a man who came from another place but taught us to fight for all humanity.


Panel from Superman (1939 series) #156 (October 1962), script by Edmond Hamilton, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by George Klein, letters by Joe Letterese
"We all have the potential to move the world, and the world is ready to be moved." — Harry Chapin

It's a message of encouragement and optimism championed by even very nearly the complete polar opposite of Superman, a cynical, hyper-violent, sex-addicted, kangaroo-shagging, tank-driving child of post-Apocalypse Earth. Even she knows the score.


Panel from Tank Girl: Two Girls One Tank #3 (August 2016); script by Alan Martin; pencils, inks, colors, and letters by Brett Parson, additional colors by Ned Ivory
"But it's up to us to make it okay. It's time to be positively rebellious and rebelliously positive. As long as we stand up for what we believe in, don't give into anger or violence, look out for the little guy, keep an eye on the big guys, refuse to keep our mouths shut, and just generally try not to be dicks, every little thing is going to be all right." — David Tennant


"Can't we give ourselves one more chance
Why can't we give love that one more chance
Why can't we give love give love give love give love
Give love give love give love give love give love
'Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the (people on streets) edge of the night
And loves (people on streets) dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure" — Freddie Mercury and David Bowie, "Under Pressure"


Cover of Ms. Marvel (2016 series) #25 (February 2018), art by John Tyler Christopher
Isn't it love, after all...that makes the world go round?


Panels from Marvel Graphic Novel #5 [X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills] (1982), script by Chris Claremont, pencils and inks by Brent Anderson, colors by Steve Oliff, letters by Tom Orzechowski
"I used to be on an endless run
Believe in miracles 'cause I'm one
I have been blessed with the power to survive
After all these years I'm still alive

I'm out here kickin' with the band
I am no longer a solitary man
Every day my time runs out
Lived like a fool, that's what I was about, oh

I believe in miracles
I believe in a better world for me and you
Oh, I believe in miracles
I believe in a better world for me and you." — The Ramones, "I Believe In Miracles"

365 Days of Defiance, Day 358: Squirrel Girl also reminds you it's okay to punch Nazis.

Panels from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2016 series) #16 (March 2017), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Erica Henderson, colors by Rico Renzi, letters by Travis Lanham

365 Days of Defiance, Day 193: And now the shock surprise ending of Secret Empire

Panels from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (March 2015 series) #5 (July 2015), squript by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Erica Henderson, colors by Rico Renzi and Erica Henderson, letters by Clayton Cowles

365 Days of Defiance, Day 178: Nutzpah

Panels from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (March 2015 series) #3 (May 2015), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Erica Henderson, colors by Rico Renzi, letters by Clayton Cowles

365 Days of Defiance, Day 109: Be the change that you wish to see in the world

Panels from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2015 series) #14 (January 2017), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Erica Henderson, colors by Rico Renzi, letters by Travis Lanham and Clayton Cowles

365 Days of Defiance, Day 101: Squirrel Girl: The Most Patriotic Marvel Hero of 2017

Panels from USAvengers #1 (March 2017), script by Al Ewing, pencils by Paco Medina, inks by Juan Vlasco, colors by Jesus Aburtov, letters by Chris Eliopoulis

365 Days of Defiance, Day 68: Squirrel Girl knows the drill

Panels from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2015 series) #13 (December 2016), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Erica Henderson, colors by Rico Renzi, letters by Travis Lanham

365 Days of Defiance, Day 40: Get with the program

Panels from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2015 series) #11 (October 2016), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Jacob Chabot, colors by Rico Renzi, letters by Travis Lanham

Today in Comics History, January 21: Go nuts today

from Deadpool: Too Soon #1 (Marvel, December 2016), script by Joshua Corin, pencils and inks by Todd Nauck, colors by Jim Charalampidisk, letters by Joe Sabino, storyboards by Reilly Brown

Today in Comics History, July 28, 1962: All Hail Lord Emperor Doom, Master of This Comics Blog

Heel, dogs! And kneel before the person of the Almighty and Ever-Powerful Doom, Master of the World, of your fate, and of this puny cow's comics blog! Most certainly you remember that upon July 20, 1962 — well before the arrival of the accursed Fantastic Four, Doom cares not what the cover date of their first comic says — Squirrel Girl arrived from the future year of 2016, followed thereafter by Doom himself and Squirrel Girl's sidekick (but everyone knew her as Nancy). It was therefore mere child's play for one like Doom to manipulate the time/space continuum to become the Emperor of the World! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Witness the charnges to the timeline that shall forever signal the Age of Doom!



from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (December 2015 series) #3 (February 2016), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Erica Henderson, color by Rico Renzi, letters by Travis Lanham
Witness the splendor of Planet Doom!



from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (December 2015 series) #4 (March 2016), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Erica Henderson, color by Rico Renzi, letters by Travis Lanham
Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Doom is triumphant! Doom shall forever reign! No one can defeat Doom, for no one is powerful enough to battle me! No enemy is


Oh, crap.

Today in Comics History, July 20, 1962: Squirrel Girl finally finds a way to write off her purchase of that Back to the Future DVD on her taxes

Squirrel Girl has disappeared! Her friend Nancy Whitehead (who is a redhead) is looking for her. And since she's not the Unfindable Squirrel Girl, there's an obvious clue right in front of Nancy's nose:


from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (December 2015 series) #2 (Marvel, January 2016), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Erica Henderson, color by Rico Renzi, letters by Clayton Cowles
Meanwhile Thenwhile, back on July 20, 1962, Squirrel Girl is hiding a secret message to the future! (uture uture uture)


Well, that was easy!

Not quite as easy: Nancy finding a way to go back in ti...oh, here's Dictor Doom and his patented Time Platform™. Well, that also was easy!


Panels from The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (December 2015 series) #3 (February 2016), script by Ryan North, pencils and inks by Erica Henderson, color by Rico Renzi, letters by Travis Lanham
You can pick up the story again on July 28th! Bring your nuts.

Manic Pixie Dream Squirrel

Throughout the merchandising history of Marvel Comics, there's been more than a few weird-ass trading cards released featuring the Happy Hippie House of Idea's homemade heroes:


But probably no overall concept in trading cards has been as oddball as the 1997 Marvel Premium QFX set from Fleer/SkyBox! The "Q" is for Quesada ("Cup of" Joe), who drew all the artwork, and the FX is for...well, I think it's for weird photographic effects, because every drawing is set against a real photographic background.


That's so photorealistic that they even forgot to pick up the garbage from the sidewalk before they took the picture. Well...that's New York City for ya! Still, there's some nice effects at work here, like this shot of the Black Panther perching precipitously on Patience, one of the giant stone lions outside the New York Public Library:


I'm a little bit puzzled by Fleer/SkyBox's use of photographs that clearly show other companies' logos in them, like that banner spotlighting The New York Times on the Panther card. Or featuring both Kodak and Canon's Times Square billboards on the Howard the Duck card:


And some of the background choices are a little bit...well, let's just call it, as mentioned above, weird-ass, and let it go at that. Cyclops: in front of an eyeglass place! Haw! It's funny, because should he remove his ruby quartz eyeglasses at any time, he could destroy humanity with just a single glance! Also, his spectacles take way more than an hour to make.


Thanos! Not merely content to conquer the known galaxy, he also intends to hang around Rockefeller Plaza and kidnap Liz Lemon when she comes downstairs. Well, can't blame him there.


And to properly display the might and grandeur of Thor, here's a card showing him a mere twenty feet off the ground cavorting with pigeons, the flying rats of Manhattan. Don't touch 'em, Thor! Don't put your lips on them!


At least Storm of the X-Men gets top fly high above the city, which is a pretty good trick with her "look at my rear" posture and her enormous feet.


On the other hand, here's Jubilee hangin' out in...I dunno, Queens? Staten Island? Amityville? Is she selling real estate now? Enquiring minds want to know what the Sam Scratch the thought behind this card was!


But then there is, photographed in Central Park, quite possibly the weirdest, most disturbing, off-modelist version of Squirrel Girl that is known to the entire length and breadth of history.

GAZE DEEP

INTO THE SCARY CLOWN FACE

OF AMERICA'S SQUIRRELHEART